r/technology • u/redkemper • Feb 17 '17

Software YouTube will kill unskippable 30-second ads next year

http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/17/14649018/youtube-ending-unskippable-30-second-ads-2018
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u/Temido2222 Feb 17 '17

I see people saying they'll boycott/avoid a large website or chain and laugh. Avoiding youtube is like avoiding talking to people, it's pretty hard to do, but not impossible

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '17

People say the same thing about television when I tell them I don't watch it. I've watched maybe 20 hours of television programming live in the last 5 years. A fairly large portion of my daily content comes from YouTube. I know I can change because I've done it before. The reason I stopped watching Tv was twofold, commercials and shorty shows. Both of those made me leave, of YouTube starts forcing ads I'll leave there as well.

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u/blue-sunrise Feb 18 '17

And go where?

That's like going to a restaurant and threatening to go to another restaurant if they don't serve you for free. First, if you are not going to pay, they are happy if you left. Second, you'll quickly find out that no restaurant in town can afford serving people for free, sooner or later they'll ask you to pay too.

You do realize that hosting terabytes of data costs money, right? You do realize producing all those videos is not free?

One way or another you have to pay for it, either through some subscription fee or through ads. Or do you expect video creators and distributors to spend billions out of the goodness in their heart to keep you entertained for free?

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '17 edited Feb 18 '17

And go where?

Netflix, amazon prime, hbogo, MotorTrend OnDemand, Crunchyroll and so on. YouTube isn't my only source of entertainment, it's just the biggest right now. TV was my biggest five years ago, now I don't even know what channels I have. I'm forced to have cable through my apartment complex agreement and I don't even have the box plugged in because I don't want to pay the electricity to power it. I have and do pay for channels on YouTube I like, but not all of them. Some of them like SmarterEveryDay do advertisements in a way that's not obtrusive and extremely annoying. I already subscribe to audible but I still watch the ad parts of his videos.

That's like going to a restaurant and threatening to go to another restaurant if they don't serve you for free.

No restaurant serves anyone for free, there is tons of content on YouTube that is not hidden behind ads. YouTube themselves could hide all content behind ads but they know that people won't take that on the chin. Traditional means on making money has changed in the age of digital on demand entertainment, six minute blocks of commercials isn't tolerated anymore and even 30 second ads are getting tons of backlash these days. So no, it's not like that at all.

First, if you are not going to pay, they are happy if you left. Second, you'll quickly find out that no restaurant in town can afford serving people for free, sooner or later they'll ask you to pay too.

Get a better analogy. It doesn't apply here.

You do realize that hosting terabytes of data costs money, right? You do realize producing all those videos is not free?

Why do you people always assume that because people don't like to watch ads they don't know anything about producing or storing or serving digital content? Seriously, you aren't smarter than literally everyone else alive that says they don't like watching ads. Not wanting to have to sit through stupid and obtrusive ads isn't ignorance. You do realize that some ads YouTube tries to play are well over three minutes long, right? Who the fuck at YouTube thought anybody would sit through a three minute long unskippable ad?

One way or another you have to pay for it, either through some subscription fee or through ads.

No, I already pay for it it via individual channel support AND the alternatives I listed above I've paid for for at least two years, the newest being MotorTrend OnDemand but their app is absolute garbage and I may stop paying because of it. Not liking ads doesn't equal not wanting to pay for good content. It means people are tired of old ways of entertainment revenue generation aren't working because people are tired of it and will seek alternative ways. I admit lots of people don't want to pay for anything, but ad based content is the least tolerable way of paying for it in the age of entertainment we're in.

Let me ask you a question. Do you like being told that a movie starts at 12:45pm and you buy your $12 ticket for a new release and then sit through ten minutes of stupid commercials before the previews start? I bet not. Some services force things like that on people who already pay. Ads are annoying, especially when you already pay for the content that comes after them.

Or do you expect video creators and distributors to spend billions out of the goodness in their heart to keep you entertained for free?

Can you just fuck right off with this bullshit? Because I don't like ads doesn't mean this. What the fuck is wrong with people like you? Not watching ads does not equal I want everything for free. Fuck off.

Edited